Mott the Hoople Brief Biography

Mott the Hoople originated out of Hereford, when Mick Ralphs, Verden Allen, Pete 'Overend' Watts, and Dale Griffin came to London with their band Silence. Original singer Stan Tippens got injured, couldn't sing, and Ian Hunter answered an ad from the band to take over. Tippens then became Mott's manager.

The band were struggling to sell records in the early '70s, and a fan of the band was David Bowie - which was lucky for them. He gave them 'All The Young Dudes', which suited Hunter's over-the-top persona perfectly, and another great anthem of theirs followed - 'Roll Away The Stone'.

Mott were right for that early '70s era of glam rock, but when Ralphs left to form Bad Company, the writing was in big letters on that obligatory wall. Spooky Tooth guitarist Luther Grosvenor replaced Raphs, and Grosvenor was, in turn, replaced by Spiders of Mars guitar legend Mick Ronson. Ronson and Hunter left to form a duo, Mott the Hoople then became Mott, then The British Lions, then oblivion...

Mott the Hoople 2009 Reunion

On 16th January, 2009, it was announced that Mott the Hoople would be re-uniting for two concerts at The Hammersmith Apollo in London, in October 2009. On Ian Hunter's website, Hunter wrote: "Why are we doing it? I can't speak for the others, but I'm doing it just to see what it's like. Short of war, death, famine, it's ON." Tickets for the two original dates sold out, and a third date at the same venue was added for October 1st, 2009. Another two dates were added after that show sold out, too.

- Paul Rance/booksmusicfilmstv.com.